


A Night Out

by artloife4142



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Handcuffed Together, Pining, Secret Santa, Widojest Discord, Widojest Secret Santa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21878437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artloife4142/pseuds/artloife4142
Summary: Divergent of Episode 71 of Campaign 2. Nicodranas Hijinx occur when Jester decides to help out her mom.This is dedicated to the Widojest discord!! My giftee had to drop out, but I still wanted to finish the awesome prompt I got. Enjoy my first CR fic!
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	A Night Out

"Ooooh, who's idea _was_ this?!" Caleb whispered harshly into the early morning air, tugging fruitlessly at his cuffed hands. 

"Certainly not _mine_ ," Nott whispered back through the lockpicks she clenched tightly between her teeth. 

"How about the both of you shut up?!" snarled Beau as Jester sniffled hard again, causing everyone near her to flinch away, expecting her to unleash another round of distressed sobbing. 

"I am….so-so…I'M SO SORRY YOU GUUUUYS!" Jester wailed and Beau let out a small groan, attempting to rub at the crease between her brows. 

"Hey!" screeched Nott. 

It was almost comical really, as Beau jerked up a hand to rub at her forehead and nearly catapulted Nott-who's wrists were in cuffs attached to Beau's own, to the other side of the monk. 

Caleb let out a large sigh, and regretted, for the fifth time that hour, that he hadn't prepared _Knock_ that day. 

"Shiesse," he muttered, and cast a side glance to the weeping Jester attached to the same cuffs he was, and regretted every second that had led to this. 

* * *

_-A Few Hours Ago-_

It was a light touch at his elbow, that eventually shook him from the trance he'd been in as he'd searched through Frumpkin’s eyes for any dangers that might be incoming. Caleb glanced back, noticed the red-skinned hand adorned with jewels, and looked back into the serious gaze of one Marion Lavorre. 

"Caleb."

Her accent curled around the first syllable of the name, like her Sapphire's did, and he once more felt a rush of warmth in him as the name 'Caleb' was said with such affection. 

The Ruby quirked her lips into a smile, "I believe your watch is done with? If my Jester tells me right, you were done by midnight?" 

"Ah, yes. Thank you Frau Lavorre."

"Please, it's Marion. It's so curious to me what you do, when you're looking through your familiar's eyes. Will you explain it a little?" 

Even as he replied with more detail than she most likely required, a faint, more distant part of his mind whispered _dangerous._ Marion Lavorre certainly knew how to slip in questions so smoothly that you rushed to answer in hopes of keeping her attention. He bit his tongue as he finished his explanation, waiting, almost subconsciously, for the deeper reason why she'd ask. 

He wasn't disappointed. Her face still wreathed in a kind smile, she said, "Why, that's quite an ingenious way to keep an eye out for danger. She's told me she scries for other dangers. That you all have a hut that's protected you from so much. That you make the hut every single night, even on a boat. Or in a cave."

He opened his mouth, trying to fumble his way through a gracious acceptance of her gratitude, but Marion pushed right past it, talking over him. 

"You even use fire sometimes, to take out enemy boats, and enemy orc raiders. Even change into giant things, to keep everyone safe. Did I hear that right?" 

He stiffened, and simply observed her quietly, not answering. 

She cocked her head, noting the silence, and then squeezed his forearm before letting go. 

"I apologize. I've made you uncomfortable."

"It is only that…" he stopped, hesitant, "Most people just simply expect me to be dangerous. They do not expect my reason to be because I want to keep people safe."

It was a more brutally honest answer than he ever expected to say, and he sealed his lips shut again, as her smile grew. 

"I just… I feel I must thank you Caleb. I know you and Jester are concerned about these erm, Scourgers?? Do I have that right? And I just wanted to assure you too. I'm well protected here. And mostly, I'm reassured that my Sapphire is also just as well protected with all of you at her side out there."

"She is." 

The words were firm, determined, and he had to stop himself again from just saying too much, to speak on topics that didn't need spoken of. Instead, he said:

"A lot of us…haven't got family we are able to protect. The Brenattos, you, the few friends and allies we've gathered along the way, all of you are important to us. We consider your safety, all of your safety, to be a high priority."

"Well," and the smile dimmed, as the Ruby looked back up at him, considering, "I appreciate that. Your protectiveness, the… _ruthlessness_ evident in your demeanor. That's what a group like this needs."

He found himself grabbing his own elbow, his nails digging into the cloth of his overcoat and searching out an old scar, as he returned her studying gaze. 

"All of us in the Nein have our place, a role we fill."

"Yes. You do. And for every foolish decision that _might_ be made, there's always someone that can take care of it with ruthless efficiency, yes?" 

"Yes," he croaked out, his throat going dry as the implications of her words thudded into him. 

"Yes. That's good to know. It's reassuring even."

"Happy to be of service."

She leaned in, as he forced the words out, placing a hand on his arm a second time, smoothing out where he'd started to clutch at his arm with his hand. 

"You are far more than just 'of service'. You will have a home here, should you wish it after you all are done with this work you have to do. This city _does_ make you happy. You should be in a place that makes you happy."

Her earnest appeal was so like Jester's, that he found himself smiling slightly, the thudding of his pulse calming as his panic did. 

"That is a very kind sentiment Frau Lavorre."

"It is not only kindness, when it is also but a spoken truth."

* * *

  
_We live in so much silence._

It was but a passing thought that crossed Nott's mind, but one that stuck, that she couldn't free herself from, as she watched Caleb talk with the Ruby of the Sea. Always, always, polite and careful with what he said. He always was, she was sure. 

_All I can give you is um… my loyalty. And I have...great loyalty for you._

Used to be, when it’d just been her and Caleb, that silence was a warm, comforting blanket. A blanket Nott had been able to huddle in as she recuperated from her treatment at the hands of the Crownsguard, and from her previous treatment at the hands of the goblin clan that had held her captive. 

Caleb had needed looking after anyways there in the beginning; as winter set in and food had been difficult to find. Nott could shoot down the rare game that crossed their path, and Caleb would follow-silent, but for helping point out where to plant traps. So much time they'd spent in forests, hiding, and hunting small game for Caleb to roast later. They'd said so little. They'd ventured forth only haltingly into civilized areas, working out cons on the fly as they succeeded or failed. 

… _I'd…hate to see you go._

_But-that's selfish._

For a while back then, when spring rains had started to flood along the riverbanks, and she'd been terrified to get too close, they'd nested in a cavern and caught the overflow of fish in traps Caleb would set up. Nott remembered that time with a distinction that was often hard to shake. Often, it was remarkably easy to recall the warmth of the weak, spring noon sun, the delicate trills of the songbird mating calls, the smell of the fresh river water that she too scared to go near. And if she wiggled her toes, she could still feel the squish of mud beneath her clawed feet, and could still smell the sweet, captivating scent of the budding daffodil patch by the riverside. 

And, with a burning pit in her stomach, she easily remembered the awe she felt as Caleb deftly maneuvered rope and wood to build small trapping cages for the fish of the river, tossing them out, and reeling them back in. She'd known similar tricks, coming from Felderwin as she had, and it had been obvious to her then, that she and Caleb were far more similar in background and in demeanor, than anyone she'd ever known before him. 

And that broke her heart. 

They just. Fit together. From day one. And, slowly, Nott had come to the realization why. She'd never before been able to rely on someone else for protection. Caleb could catch food when she was too scared. His magic could protect them when they got into too much trouble that her tricks couldn't get them out of it. And it was the easiest, the most simple thing of them all, to hold each other close, those long cold nights, physically providing warmth when there was none. 

It was almost sickening how quickly she'd grown to depend on him, his skills, his intellect. He'd known things, tricks of survival, that two alchemically-inclined Halflings used to their lab, would never have thought of. 

_Yeza I think, if you guys knew each other long enough… if you stopped dancing around each other all weird and off-kilter, well I think you'd find him as brilliant as I do._

She'd certainly thought that Yeza would like him, those first few weeks she'd been with Caleb. There'd been nothing to hope for in those days-of being able to return to Yeza's side-but the thought had flitted through her mind a couple times, even so. But thinking back on it now, she was mostly just so damned proud of being able to save her husband, not once, but twice. _I saved him. I saved them. Yeza and Luc. I saved my boys from this damnable war._ But that never would have happened, but for Caleb. 

Back then, when she took care of Caleb, got him up when he went down, then he'd do the same for her. And she liked to believe that even Yeza wouldn't mind if her thoughts had turned more frequently to ways of how to help Caleb, more than they did to Yeza, during those times. The more she could help Caleb… well the better off they both were. 

Some might call it simple survival, she supposed. A simple partnership. But that time… it felt both sharply in focus in her physical memory, but almost foggy and blurred in her emotional recollection. That little bubble of time, when it had just been them. It had given her her first glimpse of hope. She didn't think she'd ever be able to shake herself free of that memory. 

_Had I strayed so far even then?_ She wondered now. She didn't really know. And she certainly didn't want anyone else finding out her true thoughts on the matter until she figured it out her damn self. She had enough on her fucking plate as it was. 

_I… I don't want to burn you._

_…I promise. I promise I'll do all I can._

They lived in so much silence. 

Veth wondered what would happen if that silence was ever broken. 

Nott hoped it never did. 

"Hey, we promised they'd be safe, you know?" 

Nott gaped up at Beauregard, who'd suddenly and violently broken her maudlin train of thought. 

"What the fuck?" 

"You don't have to go right back to the bottle you know? They're all safe upstairs, just like we promised."

Beau raised a brow at Nott, who scowled and swung back the last of her whiskey, before slamming the glass back down on the table. 

"The flask is upstairs asshole."

"...So why are you down here?" 

"Because Lady fucking Edith doesn't know I'm a damn goblin, alright?!" 

"Fucking shit Nott! I get it! Sorry for trying to reach out!" 

"No! I just, no, it's fine...this is just exhausting. I'm sorry."

"Yeah… Sorry man. I'm sorry about how long this took."

Nott grunted, only partially listening as her gaze zeroed in on where the Ruby had placed her hand on Caleb's sleeve. 

"Hey, you seen Jes? I came back from a bath and she wasn't in our room."

Nott, still only halfway listening, snorted, then said, "Dunno. Maybe you should ask her _mama_."

There was a loaded silence. Nott felt the skin on the back of her neck prickle as she felt Beau's gaze sear into her. Nott couldn't even blame the booze, but desperately wanted to, as she determinedly kept avoiding Beau's intent eyes. 

"Oh. There she is."

Nott let out a shaky, but imperceptible sigh of relief as Beau started towards a discreetly hidden out of sight, human-looking Jester, the subject matter apparently dropped entirely for the moment. 

“Here to relieve you Caaayleb!”

Jester bustled past Beauregard, throwing her a soft smile as she zoomed in on her mom and Caleb.

Caleb looked back at her questioningly as Marion smiled at them both and slipped away.

“I thought it was Caduceus that was taking watch?”

Jester shrugged, ignoring the voice in her head that sounded remarkably like Nott scolding her for lying in her mother’s presence. 

“I thought I’d help a little before he got here. I had to ask you a question.”

“...Okay?”

“I have a thiingie... I want to do...ummm, here in Nicodranas. Will you help?”

Beau and Nott walked up as she asked this, so Jester refrained from further elaboration in that second.

“Jessie? What are you up to? I thought we were gonna read that new smut book?”

Beau glanced curiously at the pair of them, which Jester determinedly ignored.

“We can do that anytime really,” Jester brushed it aside, “Caaayleb!! What do you say?”

“Ahhh...yes?”

Jester squealed with glee, clapping her hands together once in excitement.

“Let’s go then! Let’s go!”

She grabbed at his hand, leading him towards the exit and out into the street, pleased as punch to have gotten her way. She waved at a passing Caduceus, who smiled, but took up his watch near a window. So excited was she in fact, that she didn’t realize that her answer hadn’t been good enough for Nott or Beau and that they’d followed.

“So, my _disguise_ can last at most, two more hours, so we need to get there!” Jester threw back over her shoulder, as she hauled Caleb through the door.

It was about two minutes later, as she and Caleb hustled through the streets, that she realized they had followers, when Nott let out an impatient screech.

“WHERE ARE WE GOING?”

“A MANOR!” Jester screeched back, before she halted, and whirled around.

“Heeeey! I asked _Caaayleb_ for help. Why’d you follow?”

Beau shrugged as they slowed, “You never said not to?”

“Okaaay, but like...you’re not gonna like where we’re going.”

Jester scuffed at the cobblestone as she said this, and looked between Beau and Nott.

“Where we goin?” Nott cocked her head.

“Lord something something’s place. That dumb Lord Robert guy. Blud told me he’s been to see my mom recently. But my mom lied about it when I asked her.”

Jester definitely didn’t miss it when all three of them exchanged concerned glances. Beau elbowed Caleb hard in the ribs and Caleb coughed and doubled over, letting out a groan of protest.

Nott punched Beau back, who squawked, and flapped her hands to get Nott away from her. Jester looked on, holding in an exasperated sigh.

“Caleb!” Beau said harshly in admonishment, “Why’d you just go along with this?!”

“She didn’t say where! But the buddy system?! We do that right?!” He said, straightening slowly and letting out another small groan. 

“Don’t hit my Cay-cay!” snapped Nott.

This time, Jester was the one to let out an annoyed groan, and stamped her foot.

“Guuuuys! I need to check what he’s up to! Come, or don’t! But I’m on a time limit!”

The three looked back at her, and Caleb sighed.

“Of course we’ll help.”

He stared daggers at the other two, before they nodded in agreement, but in a more subdued fashion.

“Let me state now, this is a terrible idea,” Beau said.

(No one answered.)

* * *

_-1 Hour Ago-_

Caleb rubbed a hand across the evening shadow that peppered his jawline, as Nott used her thief's tools to pick the lock on the window. They snuck in, quick as passing shadows, one after the other, into Lord Robert Sharp’s office. Jester let out a sigh of relief as they got inside, but looked a little disappointed as her disguise finally melted away.

“Well, there goes that spell.”

“And what are we looking for?”

This came from Nott, as Caleb and Beau fanned out, headed towards a filing cabinet and a bookshelf, respectively. 

“We’re looking for anything that can get him into trouble,” replied Jester, a fierce determination welling up in her. No one was going to get in between her and her mom, even if she had to do the dirty work herself. Well...even if she and her friends had to do the work. 

“Hey this guy controls a fuckton of money in building projects,” Beau called out in a soft whisper.

Jester scurried to her side. Beau stiffened, rifling through a couple things.

“Holy shit Jessie. I think he has a controlling interest in the Lavish Chateau building. He and your Mom have the controlling interests.”

“What?!” Jester whisper-screamed back, grabbing a hold of the paper Beau handed her. Her eyes scanned the words, and an ice-cold anger pierced her. _Of course_ this dumb Lord Fuckhisname could have held her mom’s home over her head.

“Man I fucking hate this guy.”

Nott was at her elbow, keeping an eye out for any movement, but also whispered, “Seems like that’s pretty bad for your mom. Should we buy him out or something?”

“Jester.”

Caleb’s voice called out across the room, with a level of seriousness that the others in the room immediately recognized.

“There’s documentation here, and it charts out his smuggling operation. He’s with the Myriad.”

Jester slowly pulled away from the property document in her hand, looking up at Caleb, who was walking over.

She reached out a hand, and he handed over the ledger he’d pulled out.

“The Myriad? Are you sure?”

“Yes, here’s a payment to Father Dwondaff Pierce. And here’s another to Ophelia Mardun. We know they are Myriad. He’s part of the coastal system for trading ships I think.”

Jester felt a smile creep across her face. _Perfect_. 

“Thank you Caleb. This is precisely what I needed.”

“Oh did you?”

The voice came from the doorway, and Nott let out a screech, hiding behind Jester.

“Where’d they come from?!”

“ _We_ don’t know Nott! We thought _you_ were keeping an eye out!” Beau snapped, getting into a martial stance, readying herself for a fight.

Jester looked between the Lord and the solezzo guards with him, and Nott huddled behind her, and slowly let her hands-that were still clutching the papers, drift behind her. A second later, they disappeared from her grasp, and Jester smiled at the Lord.

“Many greetings my lord.”

“You’re bold coming to my abode.”

“I like to think so,” Jester replied cheerily.

His faux-polite demeanor twisted into a snarl.

“Arrest them!”

“Jester! What do we do?!” shouted Beau, as the solezzo charged.

Jester grabbed Caleb, who looked panicked beyond belief, and _Dimension Doored_ outside of the building. 

“Stay here!” Jester ordered, intending to run back inside, before she realized she’d accidentally teleported right next to another group of solezzo. This suddenly was not at all as fun as she’d imagined. Before either of them could do anything, the solezzo had them cuffed, and attached them together with a chain.

“Oh damnit!” she swore, yanking at the chains, and regretting it immediately as she and Caleb knocked heads.

“Ow!”

Caleb muttered more swears, she assumed, in his native Zemnian.

Jester, in a flash of an idea, as the solezzo dropped their focus on them for a split-second, invoked _Duplicity_ , thirty feet from her, hiding her from the solezzo and around the corner of the house.

Caleb noticed the illusion darting around the corner, and Jester held a finger to her lips.

A quick look of understanding flared between them, and Caleb nodded. The group of solezzo burst through the manor doors in the next second, hustling along a snarling Beau and a Nott running to keep up with Beau’s pace, yelling at the top of her lungs about it the whole way out. Jester’s lips twisted in frustration as she saw how badly she’d let down her friends, but as she was about to dismiss her illusion to cast _Insect Plague_ , Caleb whispered something, flicked out a petal of a rose, and sketched out an arcane sigil. 

Before their eyes, solezzo began to drop, one after the other, yawning, and leaning against each other, all the way until it seemed to hit even Lord Robert himself. They looked back over at Beau and Nott across the way from them, and all four of them at the same time-Beau scooping Nott up and running almost inhumanly fast to get to them-began to flee.

* * *

- _Hour 3-_

“We promise Jester, it wasn’t a bad idea to begin with,” soothed Caleb. Beau snorted, then grunted when Nott elbowed her roughly.

Caleb hesitantly patted Jester’s head, as she curled over her knees, crying in frustration as they hid in a dank, dark alley.

“I was just tired, and had forgotten how easily an _Alarm_ spell can be broken. It’s almost imperceptible when you don’t think to check for it.”

“I should have cheeecked!” wailed Jester.

“We all should have, really. We were tired,” Beau replied, from where she and Nott leaned against the stone wall behind them.

“I just got so worried about my mom, you know?! I thought she wouldn’t be bothered by him again!”

“Well...that _is_ a liiitle naive,” Nott muttered, disregarding the dirty look Beau shot her.

“Enough,” said Caleb, finality ringing through his words, and silencing all the rest of them, even Jester, aside from a couple sniffles.

“We have dirt on the guy. But that _Sleep_ will only have lasted a minute. We’ve already dodged a troop of solezzo still out looking for us. We must think ahead.”

“We should split up,” Jester mumbled.

“That’s a terrible idea,” Beau interjected.

Nott nodded along in agreement, absentmindedly picking at her chains with her claws, and half cursing at her thief's tools still.

“No, it isn’t actually,” said Caleb rubbing at his chin, “Jester, Nott and I all still have _Invisibility_ or _Disguise Self_. Beau, you’re quick as anything. You and Nott could make the distraction, Nott could cast the spell, and you guys could speed away, no one the wiser. Let’s all meet back at the chateau, but we must stop the guards from questioning Marion herself, so make that distraction last as long as possible. We need them confused until morning, when we’re all teleporting back.”

“That doesn’t stop Lord Robert,” Jester said quietly.

Caleb darted a glance down at her, before glancing away as he responded.

“That’s where you and I come in.”

He determinedly didn’t look the rest of them in the face, Marion’s words from earlier in the evening whispering through his mind.

“Any objections?”

“Yes!” Nott exclaimed, her brow furrowed, “Many!”

“Any that _don’t_ include me casting _Knock_ when it’s not prepared or you swearing up and down that you can totally get the cuffs off, even though you broke your tools the last time you tried?”

“...No.”

“That’s settled then. Everyone knows what their task is?”

The three of them nodded, and Caleb sighed.

“We meet at the chateau.”

‘Yes’ echoed around him, before Beau once more scooped up Nott, and darted out of the alley.

“Good luck,” he murmured after them, as he and Jester stood as one.

* * *

- _Hour 5-_

"Ah fuck. I wish we hadn't ran after I stunned that guy."

"Well when we panic, we panic," Nott muttered back from where she was leaning against Beau. 

"Do you think this amount of distraction will do it?"

"Fuck no. Those solezzo were just a few outliers. We need Fluffernutter 3.0 maybe. That should be big enough. I can’t let him down."

Beau stared down at her, discomfited by how utterly dejected Nott looked, before grim determination filled Nott’s features.

"Hey, like…mistakes happen, you know? Take it easy. We get back to the Chateau, find your backup kit to get these off after all this, and it's all fine."

"Sure."

"Do you really think he's that upset with you? Really?" 

Nott, tellingly, stayed completely silent.

Beau blew out a large sigh, and settled against the alley wall. 

"Well, at least neither of us have to shit this time. That'd fucking suck."

To Beau's complete surprise, Nott started to snicker. She let a half-smile cross her face, pleased to have so distracted the littlest member of the Nein. Beau used her one free hand to smooth back Nott's hair, a reassuring gesture that startled Beau even as she did it, if only because she knew it was Jester that had taught it to her. 

"Yeah. No worries, we'll be alright."

Beau pretended that her heart didn't squeeze tight even as she let the words leave her, determined to forget the look on Jester's face as Caleb had stated the plan, following point after point, with something like relief and amazement in her eyes. Beau let out another sigh as she said it again, even more determined this time to believe it. 

"Yeah. We're gonna be juuust fine. I'm sure we will."

* * *

- _Hour 6-_

Dawn was beginning to break over the horizon, when Jester and Caleb cornered Lord Robert and the solezzo captain in the guard station near the Open Quay. They had put a few groups of the solezzo out of commission with a couple well placed _Suggestions;_ and had used an exceptionally well-timed _Hold Person_ and _Command_ to get them out of a sticky situation and to the right area where the lord had gone. They entered through the front door, after overhearing and verifying that they’d heard Lord Robert’s voice raised in angered shouts through a cracked window.

Their _Disguise Self_ had been cast only minutes ago, and they entered, looking like an elderly couple, acting a bit befuddled as they’d planned, and hoping it seemed that they’d just been on an early morning walk. This, conveniently, made others underestimate them, and hid that they were actually attached by chains at the same time. 

They scooted around other frazzled solezzo, and bee-lined it for the solezzo captain in his office. Jester’s pulse was pounding, and she glanced up at Caleb, hoping for reassurance. His face was older, more weathered and it was weird, but when the sun hit just right, she could see under the illusion the reassuring smile he sent her. The ledger was back in her possession, after Nott had returned it, and she clutched it almost protectively, as she walked towards the raised voices.

“I want her found! Not only has she made me suffer public humiliation, she’s stolen from me! This is unacceptable! Where’s her mother?! I know they must have made contact!”

The lord’s voice was as abrasive as it’d ever been, and Jester scowled as she heard the vitriol. Caleb interrupted the captain’s quiet reply with a sharp rap against the doorframe.

Both heads whipped up to where the open door highlighted their forms.

“What’s the meaning of this?” the captain, rose, leaning over his desk, “Why have you come? Any of the solezzo could have helped you. Why do you interrupt us?”

“I _suggest_ you hear us out,” Caleb said softly, his free hand wiping a bit of rouge on his cheek.

Jester stayed stock-still as they waited to see if the spell would take effect. After a second, it became clear that it had, and they both let out a sigh of relief.

Jester stepped forward, Caleb a half-step behind her still, and held out the papers and placed them on the captain’s desk.

“I must remind you, you had us called in. We gave you the tip that we’d found some interesting figures on our property, trespassing for whatever reason, and it seemed that other documents and items of a...secretive nature were on them as well. We thought that it must be handled by the esteemed solezzo, if anyone should handle it at all.”

Even as she spoke, she placed a hand on the captain’s and whispered the words for _Modify Memory_.

“I urge you to _remember_ captain. You called us in, it happened just last night. Some strange figures ran through our yard. My husband startled them, they attacked him, they tried to steal from him. They left this behind in the scuffle when they couldn’t subdue him. Some thugs they were. You will look for them, won’t you? And look into these weird papers?”

Caleb had reached out to Lord Robert by then, who’d gone bone-white as Jester had placed the ledger on the desk. Caleb muttered a couple words, and placed his free hand on the lord’s shoulder. Jester smiled as she noticed out of the corner of her eye, the dazed look that came over Lord Fuckwad.

“You had a similar thing happen to you right? The solezzo that came to help us mentioned that you had an experience with similar thugs, right? We couldn’t tell who they were and you don’t either probably. They had such dark clothes on, and their faces were covered, weren’t they? We were hoping you could help us, but you can’t can you? You’ve no idea who they were.”

“That’s right,” Lord Robert mumbled, his voice sounding a little strangled as the words left him, “I’ve no idea. Who were those thugs?”

“We all just don’t know. They hid their faces,” Caleb reiterated quietly. 

“You should look into what they took, right? It’s important to get that dealt with,” Jester added, reassuring the captain, who nodded along with her.

“Yes, it’s important to figure out what they took,” the captain agreed, “It might lead us to more clues.”

“That’s exactly why we were called in, I’m sure,” said Caleb.

“Yes, yes of course,” agreed the captain.

Caleb and Jester exchanged a final look, and Jester discreetly slid a hand to the captain’s keyring, and in the next second, their cuffs were open, and the keyring had been left back on his desk.

Caleb sent her another reassuring look, and they slowly moved back, as the captain picked up the ledger. 

“No need to worry Lord Robert, those thugs will be found. We’ll figure out why they stole from you.”

That was the last thing Jester and Caleb heard, as they stepped quickly out of the office, and glancing around at the bustle of the solezzo all around, were teleported five hundred feet away with _Dimension Door._

“It worked?!” Jester whispered, still in shock.

“I think it did,” said Caleb, similarly stunned. He shook himself free of it a second later, and his spine crawled with unease as he remembered the words of one Marion Lavorre. _Ruthless efficiency._

“Oh Caaayleb!!! Thank you thank you thankyouthankyou!” Jester began to mumble as the relief hit her all at once, and she swept him up into a hug, burying her face into his chest.

“Thank you so much for fixing it.”

“I didn’t fix it, Jester. If not for all of us, if not for Beauregard and Nott’s distraction, we wouldn’t have gotten past the first group of solezzo. We worked as a team. The buddy system, yes?”

His heart squeezed as she turned her beaming face towards him, “Yes!! We’re a good team. And _you_ are a very good friend.”

“We still need to leave some protection with your mother. We’ve no idea how quickly the solezzo will act on Lord Robert and the ledger of his under-the-table dealings.”

“Yes, yes. You’re right. To the chateau?”

Caleb finally cracked a smile back at her as she looped their arms together, half-dragging him back.

“To the chateau Lavorre.”


End file.
